Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention, 1921 (No. 11) - Cook Islands (Ratification: 2015)

The Committee notes that section 8 of the Employment Relations Act (ERA 2012) provides that “employees and employers have the freedom to choose whether or not to form an association for the purpose of advancing their collective employment”. The Committee observes that under section 3(a) of the ERA 2012, the term “employee” refers to any person “engaged to work under an agreement or contract of service”, including “a person paid by the number of units the person produces” and “a person intending to work”, however the same provision (section 3(b)) explicitly excludes from the scope of the Act independent contractors under a contract of services. The Committee further notes the Government’s indication that section 8 of the ERA applies to all industries, including the agricultural sector, and that the latter is generally formed from small-scale farmers who produce for their own consumption and that the sector remains largely informal. The Committee recalls in this respect that the Convention applies to “all those engaged in agriculture” and that the exclusion of independent contractors from the right to organize would not be compatible with the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether self-employed workers (farmers working on their own or within their family) enjoy the rights of association and combination under the Convention and, if so, to indicate the relevant legislative provisions. If no legislation provision provides for this right, the Committee requests the Government to consider, in consultation with the social partners, the amendment of the law with a view to allowing “all those engaged in agriculture” the full exercise of freedom of association.